Cricket World Player of the Week - AB de Villiers

Flamboyant South African batsman AB de Villiers is the Cricket World Player of the Week after scoring 64, 24 and an unbeaten 129 in the three games for the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League.

In the 39th game against Kings XI Punjab, Royal Challengers Bangalore looked in deep trouble at 67 for three after losing Lokesh Rahul, Virat Kohli and Shane Watson in a span of four runs. However, de Villiers stitched a crucial 88-run stand with Sachin Baby while going on to score 35-ball 64 in the process.

In reply, Murali Vijay scored a valiant 89 and put his team on course for a victory in the chase of 176 but eventually they fell short of the target by just one-run.

In game 44, de Villiers came up with a bludgeoning knock of unbeaten 129 which came off just 52 deliveries and it included 10 boundaries and 12 sixes.

However, the Bangalore onslaught continued as the South African captain added 229 runs with Kohli which is the highest in the history of T20 cricket.

Kohli went on to notch his third century in the tournament and it was only the second instance when two batsmen scored a century in the same innings of a T20 game.

The best bowling performance of the tournament came from Australian leg-spinner Adam Zampa, who picked a six-wicket haul for the Rising Puner Supergiants against the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 40th game but could not prevent his side from losing the game by four runs.

Hashim Amla, who was drafted in the place of Shaun Marsh in the Kings XI squad made an impact with a fluent 96 off just 56 deliveries in the 46th game against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Kings XI Punjab posted 179 in their 20 overs, a total Hyderabad chased down in the final over, riding on knocks from David Warner and Yuvraj Singh.

The surprise package of the week was Mumbai Indians all-rounder Krunal Pandya as he went on to score 86 runs off just 37 deliveries in game 47 against Delhi Daredevils.

Pandya single-handedly spoiled the Daredevils' plan of attacking with the spinners as they went for 143 runs in the 12 overs and powered the men in blue to 206 for four in the 20 overs, a total they comfortably defended by 80 runs.